Linux Top 3: Robolinux 8.2, Bodhi Linux and OpenBSD 5.8

October 19, 2015

By
Sean Michael Kerner

1) Robolinux 8.2

Robolinux has been making a name for itself as a slick Linux distro for those looking to run a virtual machine. The new 8.2 is pre-loaded with VirtualBox and a dozen privacy and security tool too including: VPN, I2P, Rootkit check, Tor browser, Tor chat, stealth text vault, BleachBit, PGP email encryption, UFW firewall, Clam AV, Keepass2 and JonDo

Robolinux is extremely pleased and excited to announce its new faster Robolinux Raptor Cinnamon, MATE and Xfce 32-bit and 64-bit 8.2 based on the 100% rock-solid Debian 8.2 stable source code sporting Debian's improved 3.16 Linux kernel. Non-stop time and effort went into finding ways to significantly speed up and optimize all three of our upgraded Robolinux Raptor series versions so that Linux beginners and advanced users will be very pleased.

2) Bodhi Linux 3.1.0 AppPack

Just a few short months after many people thought that Bodhi Linux was over, a new effort is now underway to make Bodhi more usable.

Unlike the normal Bodhi Linux releases which come with a minimal amount of software pre-installed, AppPack releases will include a variety of software pre-installed for folks who want minimal setup work after installing their operating system…We are hoping that the addition of this AppPack release will allow us to bring Bodhi Linux and the Moksha Desktop to a wider audience of users.

Lots of changes debut in the new OpenBSD 5.8 release including some interesting security updates.

The logic of the 'Allow root ssh login?' question has been changed. - The default answer is now 'no'. - 'prohibit-password' has been added to the list of possible answers.Security improvements: o sudo in base has been replaced with doas(1), sudo is available as a package. o file(1) has been replaced with a new modern implementation, including sandbox and privilege separation. o pax(1) (and tar(1) and cpio(1)) now prevent archive extraction from escaping the current directory via symlinks; tar(1) without -P option now strips up through any ".." path components. o Static PIE support for sparc. o Alpha switched to secure PLT. o Improved kernel checks of ELF headers. o Support for the NX (No-eXecute) bit on i386, resulting in much better W^X enforcement in userland for hardware that has this feature. o Enforcement of W^X in the kernel address space on i386 when using processors with the NX bit. o Work started on a new process-containment facility called tame(2).

Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at Linux Planet and InternetNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TechJournalist

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